Longuinhos

Easter Sunday in Margao is a mad rush of people heading to churches and most stores are closed on that day. We were taking the afternoon Shatabdi back to Mumbai and were roaming around Margao looking for a place to grab one last slice of goa before we headed back. Our driver suggested Longuinhos and Longuinhos it was.

Smack in the middle of the municipal market, Longuinhos is a more than 50 year old restaurant with a beautiful sign on the doorway that makes one feel like they’re walking along some old street in Havana (not that we’ve been to Havana but the images from Buena Vista Social Club come to mind). Half expecting to hear Cuban horns, we walked in through the door to see a really old restaurant filled equally by regulars and tourists like us who dropped in. The atmosphere is a lot like old Irani cafe’s found around Bombay.

We pushed through the saloon type wooden doors to enter a green dimly lit area with walls that had Mario Miranda style cartoons and some really old photos of Goa. Our waiter was a slightly on-edge older waiter who just wanted us to get done with the order and not order anything that would take time or test his memory.
So we decided to go plain jane on this one. Beef fry with pao, mackerel in red gravy and some bombil fry. The bombil fry was the first to arrive, lightly coated with semolina and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, a melt in the mouth delight.

The fish gravy was delightfully light with fresh flaky fish. The beef fry was a disappointment with the potatoes (who put potatoes in my beef?) and the onions overpowering (thankfully as it turns out) the dry and rubbery beef.

We decided to test our waiter’s patience by ordering a caramel custard (‘Time lagega!’ he said) The dessert was a revelation with an amazing bitter top and creamy base, not too eggy and sweetened just right. Just the perfect meal to end our Goa sojourn.

Note to self: Pack food from Longuinhos so there are no deep regrets when you are eating the Indian Railways packaged meal on the train.

Opposite Margao Residency, Dr. Antonio Dias Building, Next to Municipal Corp, Margao, Goa

[simple_newsletter button=”Go!”]